Chapter 181: Sparkly sights

Excerpt from the book “Dimensions” By Seng

Some places I’ve found were never meant to be explored. Hollow gaps in the world, as if God left this world unfinished. Gaps between the dimensions, unfilled, left to fester with unnatural life.

Unnatural by my standards, but I am sure they think the same of us. Creatures of black, like tar from the ooze of the abyss. They creep and crawl in the empty spaces, waiting to eat. Starved by the nothingness. Terrifying, really.

This is why I carefully avoid dimensional gaps. When you hope dimensions, stay on the train until you reach the other side. Or you might never return.

Or perhaps the idea of the nothingness excites you, something unexplored. A funny idea, but a pointless one. Technically unexplored, but it’s empty. Bar the creatures that lurk in the depths. Pure entropy, If you will. They are the only treasure, their corpses excellent magical reagents if you dare to gather.

Dealing with Felix was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or, in this case, the thin vale of energy keeping me from falling asleep. With a stumble, armor still encompassing me, I pass out on the nearest surface softer than the stone floor underfoot.

Or so I assume, given I’ve only just awoken in a daze. Stars dancing around my eyes as I attempt to get my bearings. Finding the familiar walls of my hallway of all places! “Must have been pretty tired,” I say. Shaking the fog from my head with little success.

With an audible exhale, I rise from my slumped position. Walking in, if I recall, the direction to the kitchen.

With a stumble, I pass through the well-worn doors. Finding the place barren. Not of food, but of the average amount of entities that come here to dine. Having Jengals mother, Jengal, Cassie, Sling, and the adorable Chic. Secretly my favorite, don’t tell her.

“Wait, she can hear my thoughts because of the bond, can’t she?!”

The stream of information that gently trickles into my mind from her didn’t stir. So I can only assume she wasn’t listening. I hope she wasn’t and would be grateful if she wasn’t.

Best to not show favoritism when you have more than 1 pet. Even if the other is barely considered cognizant.

I do sometimes wonder if I’m not using the bond to its full potential. But then again, I’m currently wearing a suit of armor that gives me several superpowers, immunity to vacuums, and nigh indestructibility.

In the kitchen, I whip up some breakfast. Some porridge while checking the time. Afternoon. While eating the porridge, I check the news. Just seeing pretty much the exact same things, barring a new section detailing new monster species. Some of them even I’ve not seen before. The more ghoulish ones sent a shiver up my spine. Something about seeing something creepy in real life.

Taking a quick look out the window, I spot a few air-based monsters pinging off the shield in the distance. It just reminds me why the barrier was an excellent investment.

They also started detailing the casualties. Estimated in the millions, which makes my heart pang. But, I’m grateful to know they have begun to rebuild. Cities are no longer in complete disarray. Structures are being erected, contingencies put in place for the new monster species.

After eating my food, I give the town a quick check. Finding a few dents in the walls, but in general, it’s okay. They have had a few monsters poke around, but it’s been generally quiet. Something about the monsters spontaneously dying overnight. A useful phenomenon when I am too busy to really help. It’s the only problem with the town; they don’t have a dedicated defense force. Just a team round the clock watching and a few solid fighters.

After my inspection, I talk with the population. Seeing some of the wondrous structures that have been created with the materials and freedom to be creative. Paid a couple diamonds to a few people to start digging and connecting a sewage system. Better them than me. Don’t really know what I’m doing myself.

Did start filling the walls for a few hours to get something done. Need to stay at least somewhat productive. Also added a few shield blueprints in preparation for a city-wide shield. It will be slow, but it will eventually be done if I do it a step at a time.

With a token effort complete, I head off and advertise the town for a little bit and then head home. Finding Cassie wandering through the hallways.

“Hey, Cassie,” I say as I walk beside her and rest my arm against her lower back. Walking with her.

“Hey, Aeternum.” She says distractedly.

“Something on your mind?” I ask.

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“No, just still thinking about yesterday. Almost like a dream.”

“I know what you mean.”

We finish the walk in companionable silence. Just appreciating each other’s company.

Once I said my goodbyes, I headed to my workshop. I’ve got a space date tomorrow, and preparations need to be made. She more than likely thinks it is canceled due to the shitshow that yesterday was.

The reason I need to prep things is that I require a space vessel. It’s not as easy as a water-based one.

With that in mind, I’m currently crafting said vessel, along with the fueling station and launchpad. While also adding a few bells and whistles to make the ship more comfortable.

The hard part was the fuel, though. I’ve got tons of raw materials, which just required an annoying amount of crafting to make the other stuff. The fuel required a completely new resource, oil. Which had to be collected and distilled in a fractal distillery, making rocket fuel and other combustion energy sources. After that, it needed further refining to make it usable in the rocket. Since my rocket is designed to go into actual space and not just float around like any random satellite.

Needles to say, it took significantly longer than the other tasks, mainly in the hunt for oil, which required an hour and an oil finder. Pain in the arse, but that’s how it goes. And I’m not one to make oil renewable by genetically modifying bees. Because that’s a pain and a half. Maybe if I get bored enough, but not today.

And with that, I send Cassie a text prompting her to visit my workshop/launching area. Because I couldn’t be bothered to move my machines.

She walks through the door about 20 minutes later with a banana in her hand. Which then missed the trajectory of her mouth as she stared at the rocket. The giant silver eyesore planted sorely in the middle of the room.

She moves her sightline down towards me, creasing her brows slightly before softening her features and walking over.

I simply cross my arms, “a promise is a promise,” I say with a smile.

She sighs with a long breath, closing her eyes and looking down slightly. “Just promise me we won’t be sucked into any mysterious portals.”

Pausing for but a moment before speaking. “Can’t promise it, but I can assure you it’s unlikely. Just a quick in and out. In space and back down.”

“In and out.”

“In and out.”

“Fine,” she says, walking towards the rocket.

She climbs inside, followed by me. I double-checked my golden bag, now packed with excessive materials and stuff that would be difficult to acquire in space. Better safe than sorry. And as my recent adventure told me, anything can happen.

With one last look around, I step into the rocket. Hearing the deep metallic steps as I move through the short corridor into the cockpit.

Finding my way into the expansive cockpit hosting 4 seats and a fabulous glass screen.

I fasten myself into the control seat just adjacent to cassie. Double-checking her seat belt before attaching my own.

With a deep breath, I press a short string of buttons leading to launch. A robot voice announces it within the ship and outside.

“Launch initiated. Raising launch pad.” Followed by the ship angeling up from its horizontal position. Pointing straight up. A large metal door opens up above, revealing the sunny sky.

“Launching in 5…. 4…. 3…. 2…. 1….”

And with that, a rumble shakes the ship, making my heart sink. The metal panels beside us creak as an upward force begins to assert its self. The pressure continues to grow as the deafening sound increases in volume.

A blink later, and we are clear of the lunch site. Soaring through the air at increasingly fast speeds. Sweat drips to the sides of my face as I feel the stress the speeds are putting on my bones.

The sky begins to darken, from a rich baby blue to an inky black. Small dots start appearing in the sky. A subtle blue cloud in the distance.

Between two heartbeats, all the pressure suddenly disappears. And we are then weightless. Chest beating like a drum, hands clammy, face hot. Feeling stressed but excited from experience. Turning my head to see Cassie was strange. It felt like I put too much force in it, causing my head to snap around. She turns over similarly. We stare at each other with big goofy grins on our faces.

She then suddenly says, “again, let’s go again.” Before we both burst out laughing.

I turn to look into the starry abyss before unstrapping myself. Feeling the weightlessness. No pressure from any direction other than the air vent to my side. The subtle wind was the only force, moving me millimeter by millimeter.

With a heave, I grasp the chair and push off it. Accidentally bumping into the ceiling. Eliciting a chuckle from Cassie.

It took me a good few minutes to get accustomed to moving slowly in zero gravity. My prior flight experience is some help.

I helped unstrapped Cassie and laughed as she bumped into the ceiling and walls in an attempt to get her bearings.

After a while, we eventually just floated idly near the window at the front. Watching the starry space in front of us. Pointing out the occasional celestial light show visible from where we were.

It was a surreal experience that we mutually decided to keep short. Not because we didn’t enjoy the new sensations, but because the last adventure resulted in us being sucked into God’s blind spot.

So with us both smiling, we strap back into our seats. I pull up a blue holographic screen. Using the buttons at my disposable, I input the command for it to return to the launcher.

Just in time, a rather giant black serpent rapidly started chasing the vessel right before entering the planet. It had slick black scales that looked almost wet. Ruby red eyes with yellow surrounding them. And tiny hands, virtually useless for attacking. It chased with vigor, but a ship assisted with gravity was too much for it.

On the way down, we had a good look at the planet. And it is clearly far more extensive than the earth, with a rainbow of biomes over most of it. Those are the normal biomes we are all used to. What I’m intrigued by are the biomes that are substantially more prominent than the rest. Sparingly placed across the world. One that caught my eye was a fiery hellscape no different than the nether. Or a pitch-black area with swirling vortexes.

Along with these exotic biomes, a few other things stood out. Such as trees of such proportion you can see them from space. Or mega structures dotted across the world. The whole planet is a mess.

The continent we are slowly closing in on is tiny compared to the grand size of this planet.

I slowly take it all in as we fall back to the earth, landing with ease on the platform.

We both disembark gratefully. Glad that the serpent chose not to follow us onto the planet.

Cassie hastily disappears after a quick kiss. Silently thanking me for the sights, we got to see today. I personally have a date with my bed. After setting all this up, I could use some death practice.